Device for feeding flexible material.



F. L. CUMMINGS.

DEVICE FOR FEEDING FLEXIBLE MATERIAL.

APPLICATION FILED NOV 23, 1907. v

5 SHBETS-SHEET 1.

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F. L. CUMMINGS.

DEVICE FOR FEEDING FLEXIBLE MATERIAL.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 23, 1907.

Patented Sept. 14, 1909.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

witnesses hi 7 4 4 E. L. CUMMINGS. DEVICE FOR FEEDING FLEXIBLE MATERIAL.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 23, 1907.

933,890, Patented Sept. 14, 1909.

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DEVICE FOR FEEDING FLEXIBLE MATERIAL.

APPLICATION EILEI) NOV. 23, 1907. 933,890,, Patented Sept. 14, 1909. 5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

F. L. CUMMINGS.

DEVICE FOR FEEDING FLEXIBLE MATERIAL.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 23, 1907.

933,890, Patented Sept. 14. 1909.

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FREDERICK L. CUMMINGS, 0F MALDEIil', MASSACHUSETTS.

DEVICE FOR FEEDING FLEXIBLE MATERIAL.

933,891) Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 14, 1909.

Application filed November 23, 1907. Serial No. 403,481.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known' that I, FREDERICK L. CUM- iumes, a citizen of the United States, residing at Malden, in the county of Suffolk and State. of Massachusetts, have invented new and 'useful Improvements in Devices for Feeding-Flexible Material, of which the following is a specification. V

This invention relates to a device .for feeding Wire, sheet materiahor the like, the same being particularly adapted to feed 'wire, sheet material, or the like intermittently at a high speed and in considerable lengths from a reel of the same.

It is well known to those skilled in the art that when it is desired to feed lengths of wire accurately and at high speed from" a reel of the same that the feeding device is very liable to be inaccurate on account of the wire .slipping during-the feeding movement. This is especially true where the feedin movement is an intermittent one and w ere the wire is fed from a reel, for the reason that the reel has to be rotated by the feed mechanism and this necessitates considerable power so that the wire is liable to slip between the feeding instrumentalities and cause pieces intermittently fed thereby to be of different lengths.

It is the object of this invention to overcome such inaccuracies "and to this end two separate feeding mechanisms are employed in one device for feeding the wire. One of these'mechanisms feeds the wire in accurate lengths, or spaces the same off in readiness to be-cut. in lengths, the other feeding mechanism is 'a supply inechanism which'draws the wire from the reel and through the straightener and keeps a supply of slack wire between the two mechanisms, so that all the spacing feedvmechanism has to do is to draw the requisite length of wire at each feeding movement from said supply of slack wire between the two feeding mechanisms. Thissupply of slack Wire is preferably fed by the first feeding mechanism in the form 'of a loop from which loop the second feeding mechanism draws its supply for the accurate lengths of wire which are intermittently fed thereby.

l have described my device in the following specification and illustrated the same in the drawings, Figures 1 to 6, as particuto 14, inclusive, I have illustrated another form of my invention the same being particularly adapted to feeding sheet material such as strips or sheets of paper and the like.

The invention consists primarily in a device for feeding wire, sheet material, or the like which employs two independent feed ing mechanisms, one of said mechanisms adapted to draw the wire, sheet material, or the like from its source of supply, such, for instance, as a reel and in case wire is being fed to draw said wire through the wire straightener. The other of said mechanisms is adapted to feed the/wire, sheet material, or the like in lengths and preferably to feed the same intermittently from a supply of slack wire, sheet material, or the like located between the two feeding 'mechanisms, saidsupply of slack wire, sheet n'iaterial, or the like being supplied by the first feeding mechanism and preferably formed in the shape of a loop. The invention further consists in the coinbiuation and arrangement of parts set forth in the following specification and particularly pointed out in the claims thereof Referring to the drawings: Fig/1 is a plan View of-niy improved device for feeding wire, sheet material and the like. Fig. 2 1s a front elevation of the same, broken away. Fig. 3 is a detail sectional elevation taken on line 3-3, Fig. 1, illustrating the mechanism by which the wire'is fed continuously.- Fig. 4 is a detail sectional elevation taken on line 4-4, Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a detail sectional elevation taken on line 5-5, Fig.

4. Fig.6 is a sectional elevation taken on" line-6- 6, Fig. 2. Fig. 7 is a plan view of another form of my invention the same being particularly adapted for feeding sheet material such as aper orthe like. Fig. 8 is a righthand slde elevation of the mechanism illustrated in 7. Fig. 9 is an end elevation of the same as viewed from the lower side of Fig. 7. Fig. 10 is a sectional elevation taken on line l010, Fig. 8, illustrating the intermittent; feeding mechanism. Fig. 11 is a sectional elevation taken on line 1111,"Fig: 10, looking toward the left in said figure. -Fig. 12 is alongitudinal sectional elevation taken on line 1212 Fig. 11, looking in the direction of the arrows on larly adapted to.feed wire, and in Figs. 7

said line. Fig. 13 is a detail sectional elea detail sectional elevation taken on line 14 14, Fig. 7.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings."

In the drawings, Figs. 1 to 6, inclusive, 10 is a frame of suitable construction, and 11 is the main driving shaft journaled in suitable hearings upon the frame 10 and driven by means of a pulley 12. The wire is fed from a reel through a wire straightener 13 of well known construction, said wire straightener being supported upon the frame 10. The mechanism for imparting a continuous feed to the wire in order to secure the slack wire between the two feeding mechanisms is par ticularly illustrated in Figs. 1,2 and 3. The wire is fed by means oftwo, feed rolls 14 and 15- having oppositely inclined peripheries. The lower feed roll 14 is fast to a shaft 16 which has a bearing at its outer end in the frame 10 and at the other end thereof in a bearing 17 on the frame 10. A bevel gear.

' threaded rod 23 pivoted at 24 to the frame projects upwardly through the arm 21 and engages a hand nut 25 by means of which the arm 21 and the feed roll 15 rotatably supported thereon are forced downwardly to bring more or less pressure to bear upon the wire 27 which is fed between thetwo rolls 14 and 15. rod 23 between the nut 25 and the arm 21. The wire 27 is guided between the feed rolls 14 and 15 by a wire guide 28, said wire passing through a slot 29 provided in said wire guide, The wire guide 28 is rigidly fastened to the frame of the machine by a screw 30 and when it is desired to increase or diminish theamount of wire fed in a certain time by the feed rolls 14 and 15, said screw 30 is loosened and the wire guide 28 moved laterally so as to move the wire 27 longitudinally of and between said feed rolls driven feed roll and that the upper roll 15 "is an idler. .The wire 27 is fed forwardly 14 and 15. It will be seen that if, referrin to Fig. 3, the wire guide is moved towar the left, a greater amount of wire will be fed during a certaintime and if moved toward the right, a less amount of wire will be fed during a certain time, it being understood that the lower roll 14 is the positively by the continuous feed mechanism hereinbefore described to form a 100 of slack wire 31' and this loop issupporte upon a suitable frame consisting of an arm 32 which has fastened to its lower end a clamp. sleeve 33, Figs. 1, 2 and '6. The clamp sleeve 33 is fastened to the arm 32 bybolts 34 and en?- circlesa hub 35 formed upon a-bra'cket 36 A spring 26 encircles the the stud 50 in one fast to the frame 10. The clamp sleeve 33 is tightened upon the hub 35 by means of a bolt 37,- thus it will be seen that the arm 32 may be set at different angles to the horizontal frame, as may be desired, for the 70.

"lengths by means of the intermittent feed so mechanism at the right of Fig. 1 and par: ticularly illustrated in Figs. 2, 4 and 5.

,This intermittent wire feeding mechanism consists of two feed rolls 41 and 42, the upper feed roll 42 consisting of a segmental plate which is fastened to a gear 43 which in turn is fastened to-a shaft 44 journaled in suitable bearings upon the frame of the machine and having fastened to its inner end a bevel pinion 45 which meshes into abevel gear 46 fast to the driving shaft 11. The lower feed roll 41 is fastened to a gear 47 which rotates upon a stud 48 projecting from the end of a lever 49 pivoted upon a stud 5O arid having a cam roll 51 rotatably sup-j ported upon its inner end and bearing against the periphery of a cam '52. A spring 53 holds the cam roll '51 in engagement with the cam 52.

The stud 50 upon which the lever 49 is pivoted is an eccentric stud and is rigidly fastened to the frame'lO by means of a nut 54 having screw-threaded engagement therewith. By loosenin the nut 54 and rotating this adjustment is to adjust the space be- 11 tweenthe rolls in orderto adjust the grip of v said rolls upon the wire and to accommodate different gages of wire. When the lever 49 1s rocked by the cam 52 the lower feed-roll 41 will coact with the segmental feed roll '42 11 to feed a certain length of wire. of wire fed depends upon the length of time The length when the feed roll 41 is pressing the wire against the segment 42 and this length of"- time can be varied in two ways, oneby 2 changing the segment 42 for segments of different lengths, the other method would be to change the position of the cam 52 upon the shaft 11. Said cam 52 it will be noted is fastened to the shaft 11 by means of a set screw 55 so that the cam can be adjusted circumferentially thereof upon the shaft 11 and thus change the time when the feed roll 41 will'bemoved upwardly to coact with the segment 42 and hence the length of wire fed Side 75 direction or the other, the 05 by said rolls may be increased or diminished by changing the position of the cam upon the shaft or by substituting different length segments, as hereinhefor'e set forth.

The Wire is guidedfrom' the loop 31 by means of a guide 56 between rolls 57 and 58 which act to retard the wire in its feeding movement, or in other words, act as a brake. The upper roll 57 is journaled upon an'arm 59 pivoted to .a stud 60 and is held in contact with the wire which passes between said rolls by a spring 61. A friction is applied to the roll 57 to retard the same in its rotation by means of a spring 62 which encir. cles the stud upon which said roll rotates and is pressed toward said roll by means of nuts 63, 63 having screw-threaded engagement with said stud. An auxiliary guide 64 is fastened to the arm 59 to direct the wire in the proper direction between the rolls 57 and 58. After the wire passes out from between the feed rolls 41 and 42 it is preferably guided by a suitable tubular guide (35:t0-. ward the machine which is to. sever pieces therefrom to be utilized, as may be desired.

When the wire passes out of the guide 65 it is liable to have a permanent set imparted thereto which has not been entirely removed when passing through the straightener before entering the feeding device hereinbefore described, and this set oftentimes guides the wire in the wrong direction to feed the same properly to the machine which is to utilize the wire preferably by cutting the same into pieces to be bent into desired shapes. The novel construction of the wire supporting frame which consists of the arm 32, cross arms 38, 38, sidearms 40, 40, and clamp sleeve 33 is designed to overcome this set of the wire and guide said wire in the desired direction independent of said set. This object is attained by tipping said wire supporting'franie at; different angles according to the set of the wire and this tipping of the frame at different angles tips the loop 31 supported thereon at corresponding angles and thus turns the free end of the wire 27 as it issues from the tubular guide 65 so that the same will point in the desired direction or toward the point to which it is desired to feed the wire in the machine which is to utilize the same.

It. will be readily seen that the manner in which the wire supporting frame is adjusted for this purpose is to loosen the clamp bolt 37 thus loosening the grip of the clamp sleeve 33 upon the stationary hub 35, then ti p ping the frame upwardly or downwardly, as may be desired,-in order to turn the free end of the wireso-that it shall feed in the'desired direction. When the free end of said wire is thus adjusted the wire supporting frame is set rigidly in position by tighteniug the. clamp bolt 37." I

The general operation of the mechanism hereinbefore specifically described is as follows: The wire is fed continuously from the reel through the straightening device by means of the rolls 14 and 15 to form a large loop 31 of slack wire which rests upon the supporting frame composed of the arms 32,

cross arms 38, 38 and side arms 40, 40.

Said wire is fed intermittently in lengths, as may be'desired, by means of the feed rolls 41 and segmental feederoll 42. Said intermittent feed rolls are rotated as hereinbefore described. In the particular form of my invention illustrated in the drawings, it will be seen that the bevel gear 46 is in the proportion of about three to one relatively to the gear45 so' that for one rotation of the shaft 11 the shaft 44 and the segmental feed roll 42 will be rotated three times,but the feed roll 41 will only be brought toward the segmental feed roll 42 to feed the wire, once for each rotation of the shaft 11 by means of the lever 49 and the cam 52, the object of this increased gearing being to feed in a short time a long piece of wire. If it is found that the loop 31 is gaining in length and storing up too much slack wire, the operator loosens the nut 25 and thus decreases the pressure upon the arm 21 through the spring 26 until the rolls 14 and 15 cease to feed the wire. He leaves the rolls in this mittent mechanism, when he again tightens the wire continuously to the loop.

If it is desired to increase or diminish the amount of wire which is fed by the intermitcondition until the surplus amount of Wire 1 in the loop has been taken up by the interthe nut 25 and the rolls 14 and 15 again feed 1 i the space between said rolls it may be done by means of the eccentric stud 50, as hereinbefore set forth. The mechanism by which the different feed rolls are rotated has been hereinbefore fully described; 7

It is not essential to my feeding mechair ism that the feed roll 41 should be j ournaled upon the end of a lever such as 49 and operated by means of acam. In some cases this specific mechanism may be omitted and the feed rolls 41- and 42 geared together as shown, but the feed roll 41 may be rotatably supported upon a stationary stud instead of upon the lever 49 without departing from the spirit of my invention, this being the particular mechanism shown and described for rotating the rolls 41 and 42 and for moving the roll 41 towarc' and awayfrom th segmentalroll 42 for the purpose as state of intermittently feeding a large amount of wire in a short space of time.

In Figs. 7 to 14, inclusive, another form of my invention is illustrated, in which the mechanism 1S particularly adapted to feed sheet material such as sheets of paper and the like; and referring to these figures, 67 is a base, the continuous feed mechanlsm 68 being supported on said base at the left hand end thereof, Fig. 8, and'the intermittent feed meclnmism 69 being supported upon said base at the right of said figure. A strip of sheet material, paper or the like 70 is illustrated as being fed through the machine by the continuous feed mechanism 68 and the intermittent feed mechanism 69. The con-.-

tinuous feed mechanism consists of an upper roll 71 and a lower roll 72. The lower roll '72 is fast to a shaft 73 ournaled in suitable hearings in brackets 74 and 75 fast to the base 67. To the inner end of the shaft73 is fastened a disk 76 and this disk is rotated by a driving disk 77, the periphery of which is arranged to bear against one face of the disk 76. I

The driving disk 77 is mounted upon a driving shaft .78 and is splined thereto and astud 87 which is fast to a bracket 88 fastto the base 67 of the machine and the periphery of this idler roll '86 bears against the opposite face of the disk 76 to that which contacts with the periphery of the driving disk 77. By moving thelever 81 which is locked I in position by suitable means not shown in the drawings, the driving disk 77 maybe moved toward or away from the center of the shaft 73 to which the disk 76 is fastened, so that the speed of rotation of said disk 76, its shaft 7 3, and the lower continuous feed roll 72 may be varied, as desired. The upper continuous feed roll 71 is rotatably mounted upon a shaft 89 fast to a rockerframe 90 pivoted at 91 to a supporting frame 92. The supporting frame 92 is pivoted at 93 to the bracket 75 and is forked at its outer end to receive a stud 94 fast to the bracket. 74. The stud 94 is screwthreaded to receive a nut 95 which bears against the under side of the forked end of the supporting frame 92 so that by rotating the nut 95, said supporting frame, the rocker frame 90, and the roll 71 may be moved away from the roll 72 or may be allowed to descend until the roll 71 is in contact with base 67. The shaft 98 together with the feed roll 97 is rotated by means of a gear 101 fast thereto and meshing into a gear 102 fast to a shaft 103 also j-ournaled to rotate in bearings provided in the brackets 99 and 100. The shaft 103 has a bevel gear 104 meshing into a bevel gear 105 which is fastened to the driving shaft 78. The lower roll 97 has fastened to its periphery and forming a portion thereof end sleeves 106, 107, each of said 8 end sleeves having a segmental flange. 10S thereon and between the sleeves 106 and 107 is a central sleeve 109 which is provided on its opposite ends with segmental flanges 110, 110. The sleeves 106 and 107 are permanently fastened to the roll 97 and the sleeve 109 is adjustably fastened thereto by means of a screw 111 having screw-threaded en gagement with said roll 97 and extending through a block 112 which is beveled at its opposite sides to engage the corresponding bevel sides of a slot 113 extending partly around the-sleeve 109.

By loosening the screw 111 the sleeve 109 may be rotated upon the roll 97 to such a position asto bring the flanges 110, in alinement with the flanges 108, 108 laterally thereof or it may be rotated until the flanges 110, 110 extend beyond the flanges 108, 108 and thus increase as a whole the length of the segmental flange upon the feed roll 97, said segmental flange being composed as a whole of the flanges 108, 108 and the 0011- tinuations thereof formed by the flanges 110, 110. The upper feed roll 96 is fast to a shaft 114 journaled to rotate upon arms 115 and 116 forming a portion of a rocker frame 117. The arms 115 and 116 are pivoted upon hearing screws 118 having screw-threaded engagement with the brackets 99, and 100. The arm 116 extends longitudinally of the strip of material 70 toward the left, Fig. 8, beyond the arm 115 and has a roll 119 journaled thereon and adapted to bear against the periphery of a cam 120 which fastened to the shaft 103. A stop screw 121 has screw threaded engagement. with the bracket 100 and limits the extent of downward movement of the rocker frame 117 by abutting against the underside of the arlu 116, thus regulating the distance to which the upper roll may descend.

The general operation of the device hereiubefore specifically described and illustrated in Figs. 7 to 14, inclusive, is as follows: The paper or other sheet material 70 is fed between the feed rolls 71 and 72 which rotate continuously and at such a speed as to form a loop of said paper between the continuous feed mechanism 68 and the inter- -mittent feed mechanism 69. The paper beneath the center of the roll 96, as illustrated in Fig. 11. The paper is then caught between the upper feed roll 96 and thelower feed roll 97 or the segments thereon and is.

fed a distance dependmg upon the length of said segments. This distance may be equal to the length of the segments 108 or 110, or

it may be equal to the length of a segment 108 plus the length of a segment 110, or it may be fed any distance between said lengths according to the position of the sleeve 109 upon the roll 97.

If-it is found that the loop between the twofeeding mechanisms is becoming too short, the driving disk 77 is moved toward the center of the rotary disk 76, thus increasing the number of rotations of said disk and the shaft 73'to which it is fastened. I If it is found that the loop of paper between the two feeding. mechanisms is becoming too long, then the driving disk 7 7 is moved away from the center ofthe disk 76 to decrease 'the number of rotations thereof and 'consequently of' the .shaft 73 and the feed r0117 2 fast thereto. If it is desired to stop the con tinuous feed for any reason while the. in-

termittent feed is continuing to'operate, the

operator may move the-upper feed roll '71 away from the lowerfeed roll 7 2 by screwing the nut 95 upwardly on the stud 9 1. If it is desired to stop the intermittent feed the screw 121 may be screwed upwardly and thus raise the rocker frame-so that the roll 96 will be out of contact with the roll 97. Itwill be noted that the provision of the supporting frame 92 allows the feed roll 71 to be moved upwardly out of the way when the paper isbeing introduced into the machine,

and thesame is true in relation to the u per -feedroll 96 which can be, lifted away rom the lower feed roll 97 by lifting the rocker frame 117 when the paper is being introof the cam and of the gearingis to enable a long length of wire or sheet material to be fed rapidly as compared with the speed of rotation of the driving shaft without employing a large and cumbersome feed roll for that purpose. The cam isso arranged as to lift the roll out of engagement with the segmental roll and then .drop it into engage- I ment with said segmental roll 'once in every rotation of the segmental roll in the paper feeding device. By this arrangement and by pro-portioning the gears 101 and 102 in the relative proportion of one to two, it will be seen that by using a. comparatively small feeding disk or under feed roll the linear velocity. of said 'feed roll would be as great as a roll which was twice the diameter and in which the gears 101 and 10-2 weremade of the same size. In case the gears-are used one toyone the cam will be unnecessary, but

where the gears are made of different sizes,

then the cam is used to drop one of the rolls into contact with the other and feed the material during one rotation of the driven feed roll at great relative speed. The advantage obtained by'this quick speed is that the feeding device is oftentimes used in connection with a machine for bending the wire or for manipulating the paper in which the stock is to be fed. into the machine during a certain portion. of the rotation of the main shaft of said machine, and the feeding de-' vices hereinbefore described enable the-mate rial to be fed in during, perhaps, a small portionof the rotation of thefshaft of the machine in which it is used, with accuracy and without any danger of slipping, of the same during the feeding movement.

l Hai ing thus described my invention, what I claim and desire by Letters Patent to secure is:

1. A device for feeding flexible material,

. co'mprising'two distinct feeding mechanisms, said mechanisms so constructed and-tuned relatively to each other as to forma loop of said material, means to guide :said material from one of said mechanisms to the other, and a brake located between said mechanisms ada )ted to retard the feed of said material prior-to its arrival at the sec- 0nd feed mechanism.

2. A" device for feeding flexible material, comprising two distinct "feeding mechanisms, said mechanisms so constructed and, timed relatively to each other as to provide a supply of slack material therebetween, one 1 of said mechanisms adapted to impart a con tinuous feed to said material, the other adaptedto impart an intermittent feed thereto, and means for throwing said continuous I feed'out of operation.

3. A device for feeding flexible material, comprising twodistinct feeding mechanisms, said mechanisms so constructed and timed relatively to eachot-her as to provide a supply of slack material therebetween, one of sald mechanisms adapted to impart a continuous feed to said material, the other adapted to impart an intermittent feed thereto, and means to regulate the amount of material fed by said continuous feed mech-v 1 anism.

A device for feeding flexible material, comprising two distinct feeding mechanisms, said mechanisms so constructed and timed A device for feeding wire or the like,

comprising two conical feed-rolls having oppositely inclined peripheries, and means to guide said wire therebetween, said guiding meansbeing adjustable longitudinally of said rolls, whereby said Wire may be moved longitudinally of and between said rolls to regulate the amount of wire fed at each rotation of said rolls.

6. In a device for feeding flexible material, a rotary feed roll, a rotary segmental feed roll, and mechanism adapted to move one of said rolls toward and away from the other, whereby the length of material fed therebetween at each rotation thereof may be de termined.

7 In a device for feeding flexible material,

, a feed roll, a segmental feed roll, gears adapted to rotate said rolls, a lever upon 7 which one of said rolls is journaled, and acam adapted to rock said lever and move said first-named roll toward and away from said segmental feed roll.

8. In a device for feeding flexible material, a pair of feed rolls, a lever upon which one of said rolls is journaled, means to rock said lever, and an eccentric stud upon which said .lever is journaled, whereby the distance between the peripheriesof saidroll's may be regulated.

9. A device for feeding wire and the like, i

adjust said frame at different angles, whereby the free end of said wire as it is fed may be guided in a predetermined'direction for the purpose specified.

10. A device for feeding wire and, the like, comprising two distinct wire feeding mechanisms, said mechanisms so constructed and timed relatively to each other as to form a loop ofsaid wire therebetween, a guide through which said wire is adapted to pass after leaving the second of said wire feeding mechanisms, a frame adapted to support said loop, and means to adjust said frame at different angles, whereby the free end of said wire as it issues from said guide may be turned to feed in a predetermined direction for the purpose specified. v

' 11. A device for feeding flexible material, comprising .mechanism adapted to impart an intermittent feed to said material, other mechanism adapted to impart a continuous feed to said material and to feed said material to said intermittent feed mechanism, and 4 instrumentalities adapted to regulate the amount of material fed by said continuous FREDERICK L.- CUMMINGS.

Witnesses:

LOUIS A. J onns, CLARENCE W. STETSON. 

